exchange marriage

exchange marriage, form of marriage involving an arranged and reciprocal exchange of spouses between two groups. Exchange marriage is most common in societies that have a unilineal descent system emphasizing the male line (patrilineality) and a consistent expectation of postmarital residence with or near the groom’s family (patrilocality). In such cases, the symmetry of an alliance is often maintained by a systematic exchange: whenever a marriage is arranged between a daughter from group A and a son from group B, a marriage between a daughter from group B and a son from group A is also arranged. Often, as among some Australian Aborigines and American Subarctic peoples, a traditional ideal was for a brother and sister from one family to marry a sister and brother, respectively, from another. When these processes are repeated by subsequent generations, the practice is known as cross-cousin marriage.